Zombies! (Book 4): Nowhere To Hide

by Merritt, R. S.

  They were using the golf cart to go secure the gate because it was quieter and less likely to draw attention. If the gate happened to be surrounded by more Zombies than made the golf cart a viable option, then they’d make the call to ride over in the truck instead. Kyler had been impressed as Rodriguez detailed the plan to him. It was apparent this wasn’t their first rodeo. His approval of the plan was only tempered by the knowledge that it used people as bait. He hoped he’d have the guts to stand up and be counted before he ended up as jaded and callous of human life as Rodriguez. He’d already started down that slippery slope by leaving an innocent man staked to the killing field. For all he knew the others in the pens really were rapists and murderers but knowing that at least one of them was an innocent cast doubt on that whole idea.

  “Time to wind.” Rodriguez whispered with a half-smile at his lame attempt at a rhyme.

  They duckwalked over to the ladder leading down off the roof and climbed down to the alley below. The truck had been parked to make it easy for them to get to the winch without having to walk out into the open. Kyler peeked around the corner and saw the stream of Zombies had slowed to a trickle. There were currently only a few moving towards the entrance. Kyler motioned for Rodriguez to come look. He must not have seen anything he thought was bad because after a cursory glance around the corner he pressed the button to make the electric winch start doing its thing.

  Kyler watched the winch tighten the wire rolled out to the gate. A couple of pulleys moved around causing some interest to be peaked by the Zombies walking by. They quickly dismissed the pulleys jumping around as nothing to do with food and kept on stumbling along their way. The gate began to slide closed. A few of the Zombies seemed to regard the gate shutting as some kind of crazy black magic. Most of them just ignored it and kept doing their thing. The gate slowly closed leaving some of the Zombies stuck on the outside of it. Those Zombies immediately just began walking along the perimeter of the fence looking for another way in.

  That just left the one who’d managed to get stuck between the gate and the gate post. The one who was going to be directly in the way of Kyler wrapping a chain though the fence and around the post. The one they were going to have to kill and push out of the way to be able to close the fence. Rodriguez peeked around Kyler to see what he was still staring at. He considered the issue for a minute before calmly walking back to the winch and turning it off. Without the winch exerting pressure on the Zombie it was able to push the gate out of the way and proceed into the warehouse parking lot. Rodriguez came back over and made sure the Zombie was gone then turned the winch back on to pull the gate shut all the way.

  Kyler turned around to join Rodriguez. Rodriguez was sitting in the golf cart. He patted the seat beside him. Kyler sat down next to him hefting the heavy-duty chain and lock he was going to be responsible for using to secure the gate. Rodriguez would be responsible for making sure no Zombies came along and took a bite out of him while he was screwing around with the chain and the lock.

  The plan had sounded solid in the alley when he’d first heard it. Now that they were putting it in action Kyler could see massive glaring issues. There were still plenty of Zombies wandering around outside the gate. All of those Zombies immediately noticed the golf cart being driven towards the gate. Those Zombies started screeching which alerted all the other infected crazies that something was going on. The ones who heard the screeching started looking around until they spotted the golf cart also. Once they spotted it, they joined in on the screeching and the chasing. By the time they got halfway to the gate there was at least a dozen Zombies screaming their heads off and sprinting straight for them.

  A dozen Zombies wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if they were in a position where they could take them out with their rifles. They couldn’t do that though as it’d cause them to get stampeded by the massive herd currently inside the fence. Those Zombies were stuck in there primarily because they were trying to figure out how to eat the people sitting in the transparent pens. If they happened to notice some morons driving around in a golf cart on the other side of the fence making all kinds of noise, there was a good chance they’d consider them an easier meal.

  Rodriguez was driving the golf cart like he was playing GTA drunk with his friends. Kyler held on for dear life while keeping the chain in his hands ready to go. This plan kept seeming dumber and dumber the further into it they got. He didn’t really understand why they couldn’t have done this a lot more quietly around three in the morning instead. The Zombies inside didn’t seem like they were trying to go anywhere. Not so long as the snacks in the oversized hamster balls were still eluding their grasp.

  Two of the Zombies were on a collision course with them. If they’d taken the truck it would’ve just meant two fleshy speed bumps. With the golf cart even hitting a skinny toddler at full speed could easily total them. Forget about ramming into an obese Japanese woman with some kind of skin disease like the one waddling full speed towards them. Kyler let the chain slip out of his left hand as he made sure he could get to his pistol if he needed it. Rodriguez must’ve noticed his hand moving.

  “No guns amigo. I’m going to swing us right around Godzilla up here. You put up the chains while I go Paul Bunyan on the rest of these pendejas.”

  Kyler moved his hand back to the chain. He was willing to trust Rodriguez up to a point. He wasn’t planning on dying to get that damned gate secured though. He moved his hand from the chain to the top of the golf cart to try and keep his seat. Rodriguez pulled some turns off that should’ve resulted in the golf cart crashing then possibly bursting into flame. Somehow, they managed to stay horizontal though. When they came out of the dizzying and terrifying series of curves and near misses Kyler looked up to see they’d wound up in front of the gate.

  Kyler bailed out on his side and ran over to where the wire connected via pulleys back to the winch on their truck was holding the gate shut. A couple of Zombies were standing on the other side of the thick chain link fence snarling at him. Moving quickly, he pulled down the lock on the gate to secure it to the post and started trying to wrap the chain around it. Behind him he heard the sounds of Zombies getting beat down by Rodriguez who was swinging a big fire ax around like it was nothing. Focusing on the task at hand Kyler once again tried to wrap the chain through the links to lock it up tight. Once again couldn’t get the chain through without risking having his fingers bitten off. He was wearing gloves, but he didn’t know how tough they really were or if they’d get ripped right off if he was dumb enough to shove his hand through the hole into a Zombies mouth.

  “Shove it through now!” Rodriguez yelled at him. Rodriguez shoved a long metal pole hard through the fence right into the eye socket of the Zombie that’d been most actively trying to rip Kyler’s fingers off. Kyler shoved the chain through and threaded it into the lock. He was actually amazed a little bit himself at how calmly he seemed to pull it off. Especially since his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest at any second. He clicked the lock shut and turned around to hop back into the golf cart.

  The golf cart had a Zombie coming through the seats straight at them. Rodriguez spun and brought the ax blade down on that one’s head. A big fat Zombie jumped right over the golf cart and slammed into Rodriguez while he was trying to work the ax blade out of the one that he’d just killed. Another two Zombies came around the side of the golf cart to attack them. Rodriguez was on the ground holding off the overweight adrenalized monster by locking his hands around it’s throat. He was trying to choke it to death. The Zombie obviously didn’t care about the loss of oxygen as its teeth snapped together over and over again in anticipation of the meal within inches of it.

  Kyler pulled his carpenter hammer out and smashed the Zombie on top of Rodriguez in the head twice then turned to defend them against the other two he’d seen. Rodriguez pushed the brain-dead Zombie off him and jumped up to help Kyler fight off the two Zombies now attacking them. Kyler had gotten in some good
licks with the hammer but nothing that’d put the demons on the ground. He continued to flail away at them with his hammer while Rodriguez launched into them with a naked blade gripped overhand.

  Between Rodriguez and Kyler, the two Zombies fell to the ground with huge gashes in their necks and dented in skulls. There was no reprieve. Other Zombies were within twenty feet of them. Rodriguez dove headfirst into the heavy-duty golf cart and pushed down hard on the accelerator with his hand. Kyler barely got in the cart in time to grab the wheel and steer them away from the largest group of oncoming Zombies. While Rodriguez worked to spin himself around to sit in the golf cart without letting up on the accelerator Kyler steered them towards their truck.

  He drove too close to one of the Zombies who reached in and grabbed Rodriguez by the arm. He’d been in the process of trying to right himself in the seat, so he’d already been seriously off balance. The Zombie tugging on his arm toppled him instantly out of the cart. Kyler jumped out to help him as the golf cart came to a rapid stop. The Zombie and Rodriguez were tumbling around in the street. Five more Zombies were pounding the pavement in pursuit of them. Rodriguez got up off the ground covered in blood. Kyler couldn’t tell if it was the Zombies blood was or not. He decided they could sort that out later.

  “Get in the truck! You’re driving!” Rodriguez wheezed as he limped towards the passenger side.

  Kyler jumped in the driver’s side and started the truck. He’d wanted to leave it running when they went to lock up the gate since most of his plans seemed to end up with him running for his life. A running truck made noise though. They’d already been making enough noise with the winch. The winch!

  “We forgot to unhook the winch!” Kyler blurted out.

  “Well run over some of these freaks then get out and unhook it.” Rodriguez replied. He sounded like he was in pain. Glancing over at him Kyler saw he was busy trying to wrap an oversized ace bandage around himself.

  “You alright?” He asked. He’d started the truck and shifted into reverse. Slamming his foot down on the gas pedal made the truck rocket backwards right into the small group of Zombies who’d been getting way too close. That maneuver seemed to have worked out pretty well. Except for the one Zombie who ended up getting thrown into the bed of the pickup truck.

  “Yeah. I landed on my damned knife when that puta pulled me out of the cart. Stabbed myself right in the culo.” Rodriguez complained as he contorted himself trying to take care of the wound to his back section.

  “I’ll help you get it fixed up once we get out of here. Hang on for now. I suck at driving backwards.”

  True to his word Kyler almost flipped the truck trying to drive backwards over the Zombies still chasing them. When it looked like he’d have some breathing room to take care of the winch he slammed on the brakes and hopped out the door. The Zombie in the back of the pickup immediately jumped out after him. Kyler stepped in on the Zombie as soon as it landed. The Zombie was still unsteady on its feet from jumping out of the truck when Kyler went to town with the claw side of the hammer on its head.

  Walking away from the dead Zombie Kyler took a look in the back of the truck. The big toolbox was still sitting back there. He opened it and pulled out the bolt cutters. Ignoring the screeches of other Zombies running towards him he cut the wire coming off the winch and let the ends uncoil. He was worried the wire might come loose and get tangled in the wheels or something, but he didn’t have time to deal with that right now. He ran back to the driver’s side and climbed in right as a skinny Zombie with long stringy black hair slammed into his window face first. Kyler pressed down on the gas and started the hour-long drive towards the rendezvous point.

  “See. Piece of cake mano. I told you this’d be the easy part. Now pull over when you get a chance and help me fix my ass.” A grinning, blood drenched Rodriguez said from the passenger seat.

  Chapter 26: Bouncing Back

  Beaten and bloody the small group of survivors huddled together in the admin office of a large electronics warehouse off the side of the interstate. Randy was passed out on the dusty carpet with Doreen, Zoey and Ali all snuggled in next to him. Kelly had let them know that their daddy was covered in ‘boo boos’ so they were all being very careful not to snuggle too hard. Being kids though that rule was occasionally forgotten, and a grunt of pain would come out of Randy as he shifted around to try and escape various kid limbs poking him in painful places.

  Kelly and the older girls sat around a cheap desk quietly talking about what they should do next. Kelly was still in shock from losing Tony. She’d seen the man take so much abuse that she’d come to think of him as invincible. Seeing him make the choice to stay behind to protect them from the horde that’d been chasing them had ripped her apart. She mourned not only for the loss of a true friend but also for the loss of that certainty they’d all make it out of this. If Tony could die that easily then so could Randy. She knew her husband wouldn’t have hesitated to shove his hand in that Zombies mouth to defend Zoey either. Something as simple as Tony and Randy having switched seats and she’d be a widow right now.

  As crushing as the thought of losing her husband was the thing making her eyes constantly tear up was the fear of losing one of her girls. She knew they were lucky as all hell to have made it this far into the apocalypse and still have their family together. They’d even managed to adopt another daughter along the way. Lucky or not she knew she wouldn’t be able to stay sane if she lost any of them. Her nightmares were never about Zombies catching up to her. The dreams that woke her up trying to stifle her own screams in the middle of the night were always about the beasts cornering her girls.

  “Do you think dad is ok?” Myriah asked. She’d been checking on him and trying to keep the little kids from kicking him too much in their sleep.

  “He looks like someone threw him in a giant blender and pressed ‘beat the crap out of’.” Caitlyn blurted out. She’d meant it as a joke, but it was such an accurate description of how Randy looked that it was more sad than funny.

  “Your dad’s a tough guy. He just needs some time to rest and he’ll be fine. I just hope this warehouse turns out to be a safe place to hole up for a little while. We need to find some food and water. I’ve got a hefty bag of pain pills and antibiotics so we should be good on medicine, but it won’t help if we starve to death. Let’s sort out what we have and figure out what we need. Maybe that’ll help us get a plan going.”

  Following her own advice Kelly started stacking her supplies on the desk. They hadn’t had much time to grab their gear out of the SUV in all the confusion and chaos. Kelly felt her heart swell with pride seeing how much stuff her daughters were able to put on the desk given the conditions they were in. This was one of the reasons they were alive when so many others weren’t. If the ability to think during a crisis was a learned behavior, then the apocalypse had been a crash course for all of them. Myriah’s OCD kicked in and she started organizing the supplies on the desk by type. Kelly and Caitlyn went to rummage around the office and look through anything the little girls or Randy may have brought along.

  Once all was said and done, they estimated they had enough water for a couple of days with rationing. Kelly wasn’t so worried about food as they’d gone longer than three days with very little food plenty of times. Cumulatively they had the bottled waters from all their packs and then random packages of saltines, fancy looking snack bars promising they were made entirely from fruit, packets of flavored oatmeal, and a few cans of ‘chef boy ar dee’. Caitlyn had been lugging around the heavy canned pasta because they were one of the few foods Zoey, Ali and Doreen all loved to eat.

  Those three cans of sugared up sauce and mystery meat meatballs tugged at Kelly’s heart strings. She teared up again. She knew it was one of the most normal things in the world that kids were picky eaters. That little bit of normalcy would’ve been enough to make her cry, but to think Caitlyn had been lugging around who knew how many pounds of the canned crud just because the little girls lov
ed it really got to her. It seemed to shine out as a beacon of love and sacrifice. Her pride and love for her daughters became too much and she just couldn’t handle it.

  “You okay mom?” Caitlyn asked. Myriah came over concerned as well and awkwardly rubbed her mom’s back. They both thought of their mom as a force of nature. Strong and demanding whenever she needed to be but always with her roots planted firmly in love and faith in her family. Seeing her lose control and break down like that was impacting both of them.

  “What’s wrong?” Myriah asked. She looked over at her dad to make sure he still looked ok. He was leaning up on one arm watching them through half open eyes. He’d woken up when he heard Kelly crying.

  “You carried their spaghetti.” Kelly said. She was laughing and blubbering all at the same time as she pulled her two oldest daughters in for a big bear hug. Both of them had started tearing up as well although they had no idea what their mom was talking about. Behind them Randy smiled to himself and put his head back down on the floor to try and get some more rest.